So yeah, Fall’s off to a start. Not really a good start, though Fate/Zero shines in the early going and I did like the first Hunter x Hunter episode. I’ll be covering a couple new shows here at Meta (of course, the ecchi shows I’ll be highlighting in FI form). Anyways, Penguindrum 12. Let’s talk about it.

After an extended monologue from Kanba about hating fate (love his mentioning of not amounting to anything), Kanba comes home and receives a call from Sanetoshi saying that Himari will die tonight.

Shouma begins to explain how his parents were directly involved in Momoka’s death. Flashbacks take us to Kenzan, working in what looks like a shipping factory of one of the penguin factions. He’s seen on the phone asking about a boy being born and his wife’s health. Shortly after, he sends the pager message, “Let’s initiate the survival strategy.” as him and other cutouts wearing red head into the subway.

Tabuki walks to school and notices a commotion near the entrance of the subway, with the men on patrol saying there was an accident on the subway. Her turns around and notices different areas where smoke is rising from the ground. Later on, at Momoka’s funeral, we say baby Ringo playing about with the diary and Tabuki shocked this she would vanish from this world.

The attacks hit multiple stations in the Tokyo Subway

Momoka. Her head is a pair of tits, so it had to be censored Seikon no Qwaser-style.

Bored by the story, possessed Himari stands up and claims that they’ve lost the Penguin Drum and that dark bunnies have been called forth. The fated day is approaching. Surprisingly, Himari falls to her knees and the scene transfers to the looks of a shut-down Seizon Senryaku. Shouma is told to get the Penguin Drum to save his sister’s life. Sanetoshi is walking with two boys in the train.

While the mad dash to the hospital happens, a flashback scene recalling a moment Kanba had with Himari as she was making stuffed cabbage. She also was talking dirty with the cabbage. Kinky~

As Shouma and Ringo watch over Himari in the hospital, Sho begins to tell a story of Mary Had a Little Lamb. Mary had three lambs (the Takakura siblings), and Mary woke up one day to see that the Apple Tree (first tree in the world) had withered. The tree’s light was a source of love, future and dreams in the past, but it being withered now shrouds the world in darkness. Mary hears the voices of two bunnies who offer her a way to restore the tree. Mary declines, but later goes thru with stealing ashes for the tree.

Kanba runs in during the Mary story and puts the penguin hat back on Himari, whose flatline begins to beat just a bit and returning he and Himari to a shut-down Seizon Senryaku. The life force Kanba had sacrificed back in episode 1 wasn’t quite enough, and posessed Himari believes it to be the end of the road. Kanba asks for her to take more life from him and rips his shirt open, revealing that he actually has enough to give. She initates the survival strategy and reaches in his chest, but refuses to take it from him.

The story of Mary continues with the goddess punishing her for taking ashes for the tree. She decides to take the youngest, smallest lamb (which would be Himari) as the punishment must be unjust. The penguin hat falls to the ground and Himari flatlines, and along with her, Threetie also fades away. Sanetoshi arrives as Kanba asks why it couldn’t have been him instead.

Weekly Marching of the Penguins:

Today’s Slogan: That Happened Before I Was Born

Love the reflection of the city in his glasses

#1 finds an interesting collection in the cabinets. Threetie does some bondage work on #1.

End Thoughts:

Himari’s sudden 2nd death was certainly a shocker. Is she gone for good? Wishful thinking and typical trends in anime might lead to her revival, and I think all of us want to cling to that small bit of hope that her brothers can bring her back. Boushi-sama could’ve taken Kanba’s remaining life force and continued on, but in that moment, it kinda felt as if it was Himari making that choice not to take it away from Kanba. We’ve never seen any moment of Himari’s personality coming out of Boushi-sama, but I wonder. The flashback scene of them making cabbage (accompanied by a really strong musical piece) added weight to that last scene.

Kenzan’s involvement in things is really interesting, perhaps the root of everything that has happened to the Takakura siblings as he actually had a leading role in the attacks on the subway. During his phone call, he says “boy”, but Shouma and Kanba were born the same day, which kinda leads to some confusion as to what exactly was being discussed on the phone and brings questions of what the Takakura family is. He also motioned for the Survival Strategy to be initiated in his message. Why he’s doing this is uncertain, but it would seem like he paid a price if Shouma’s telling of Mary Had a Little Lamb put him in the role of Mary and he to blame for what happened to his daughter; Mary in the scenes doesn’t look like a girl, more like Kenzan as the goddess punished Mary for her taboo.

Where does Penguindrum go from here? We’ve all had theories and ideas and beliefs of what could happen, but these past two episodes have really spun things around and made Penguindrum’s second cour very intriguing. In Himari’s absence, Sanetoshi’s role in things take on a much greater importance. The diary still has yet to be put back together. Masako and Mario’s plan has yet to fully reveal, and we still aren’t sure of Yuri and Tabuki’s roles in Penguindrum.

26 Responses to “Mawaru Penguindrum – 12”

Needless to say this episode was on crack, and the incest came back? Does this mean it will be back again in another 12 episodes HA! That being said, I loved this one, even if it took someone with a Phi Brain to follow it. The visuals were stunning and the story told by Shouma was awesome. Thou I was thinking about those black bunnies during the final goriness of Blood C.

Kanba defiantly won major sexy face points in this one. Glad to finally see some fan serves from him with the ripping of the shirt. Speaking of that, nice tie in with explaining WTF happened in ep 01 with the tearing out of the heart. You really need to pay attention to the details in this show. Mostly why it is so appealing.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see incest return. And believe you me, I watched it twice (as I do all Pengi eps) to get a firm grasp on things.

I normally don’t comment on Kanba fanservice, but hey, I did pick him as my gravatar in a bishie-lookin way. I love hearing his seiyuu Subaru Kimaru belting out those moments went Kanba yells out in frustration. It’s quite powerful.

Oh my gosh this episode. So sad to see Himari might be leaving, but Mr. Amazing Pink Hair showed up so… maybe he’s the penguindrum or something crazy like that. That would be insane.
Now seeing as I’m 16, it would be nice to find out Kanba’s, Ringo’s, and Shouma’s birthday. Since they’re all 16. Although I think it would be odd growing up, knowing that your parents killed a bunch of people the day you were born…
Gosh the amount of information and stuff that they pour into us every episode is so insane. From the “get the penguindrum for Himari to live” and now strange parents and stories about goddesses and whatnot… Gosh the show has really grown.

I’ve seen one theory that the spinning globe is the Penguin Drum. It had life force in it, and it is spinning (mawaru). But if anything, he seems to have answers to questions we need to know.

Ringo’s birthday was shown on a calendar back in episode 6 as March 20th. And Sho seemed like he knew his dad’s story before realizing what happened to Momoka, so just holding that in for so long kinda makes me wonder what Sho thinks of his father. We’ve seen Kanba be so much like him and I’m sure Kanba would back his dad 100%, but what about Sho?

An excellent excellent excellent episode in an amazing show. I completely agree that this episode spins things around. Where is this show going from here? What are the dark bunnies? There are so many questions that are raised.

When I first saw the black bunnies, I was thinking of those 2 kids walking home from Soccer practice in episode 1. They talked about a universe in the palm of your hand and that the apple is the universe; sure seems like Sanetoshi has the whole world in his hands.

Man such an awesome episode, I think we should know who that mystery girl with the other penguin hat might be! Just look at the hairstyle I soooo think it’s Ringo’s sister or something? To crazy? I dunno.

Freaking bunnies all over! This series loves it’s animals xDD So I wonder what Kanba will have to “trade” to bring his sister back, well he did say half of his life. One piece anyone? Muhahaha well not 100% but eh close enough.

Momoka’s diary is the penguindrum. this is confirmed in everyone else’s actions. however so far we’re unsure as to what it does, besides it’s seeming necessity to the penguin hats, which thrive of life force, and possibly the penguindrum. However the actions written in the diary by momoka (ringos sister) are definitely not “fated” to occur, although this series revolves around the concepts of predetermination and inevitability, and fighting against this force. Interestingly it seems the boy’s parents were part of some sort of terrorist organisation…with ecological foundations, or possibly a well intentioned, but ill fated environmental movement. I started watching this for the slapstick humor and the smooth art style, but now i’m entirely in this for the plot

It certainly has been more deep & philosophical ever since episode 5 or 6. I believe in my first impressions, I said once I get to this point I would rewatch, and I probably will have to hold that off a few weeks due to Fall business, but a rewatch should help get some more dots connected.

Could certainly be both of those things and also what Dan-go above me mentions. It is the Penguin Drum in a sense due to everybody wanting it, but I’ve never convinced myself that the diary is the actual Drum.

I just…I don’t even know what to think anymore. This episode just disintegrated any theories/ideas I had and just raised even more question than before, making my head spin (and yet I still try to come up with answers). PENGUINDRUM YOU’RE KILLING MY BRAIN HERE! Btw that scene with Kanba and Seizon-Sanryaku Himari kinda creeped me out…Not a big fan of incest, even if it is someone else inside of her.

SO GOOOODDDD. Each episode brings up more questions than it answers, I swear. I’m also confused that the twin’s father only mentioned one boy over the phone.

I really like Himari, and killing her off for good would be a really risky move. I guess if she stays dead, they’ll still look for the penguindrum in the hopes that it revives her. It makes me wonder where the girl who possesses Himari goes when she dies and just who the hell she is (and what the hell she is). Sooo many questions.

…On a side note, I love how they could use the same actor for Tabuki as a kid because Akira Ishida is just a friggin awesome seiyuu.

It was awesome in pretty much all facets of what constitutes a good anime episode, though tears didn’t come at Himari’s death mainly just from how sudden it happened and the slow burn to the episode’s end.

It seems from the preview that Masako visits Kanba with the diary in hand. Can’t wait to see that.